"I've heard that, yes," Cecilia replied in French, and looked very uncomfortable.

"I don't speak Swahili," Lowell said.

"Or I," O'Connor said.

"What does it mean, Father?" Lowell asked.

"Not me," Father said.

"You may consider that an order to translate the General's comments, Major Lunsford," Lowell said.

For a moment, it looked as if Lunsford was going to refuse the order. Then he looked at Cecilia Taylor, who said, "Don't you dare!"

"Man who thinks he's in love can be counted upon to behave like orangutan in heat," he translated, "and show the world his red ass."

"If you gentlemen will excuse me," Cecilia said, "I think I will go powder my nose."

"Thanks a lot, General," Father said when she was out of sight.

"I wouldn't worry, my friend," Mobutu said. "She likes you. I could see it in her eyes. Women can sense warriors, and warriors attract women."

[ FIVE ].

Immediately after the dessert plates had been cleared from the table, as houseboys served both coffee and cognac, two Congolese paratroopers carried first a tripod, and then a map board, into the dining room.

I'll be a sonofabitch! He's actually going to do it! Howard W. O'Connor thought. Howard W. O'Connor thought.

Lieutenant Colonel Craig W. Lowell stood up, cradling a cognac glass in his hand, rolling the cognac around in the glass.

"This is where, in times past," Lowell said, looking at O'Con-nor, "the ladies retired, while the gentlemen sipped at their cognac and puffed on their cigars. But times have changed, and I would like to begin this session by offering my thanks, and that of Colonel Felter, to Marjorie and Ursula. Major Lunsford has told me how much they have contributed to Operation Earnest. Thank you, ladies."

I'll be a sonofabitch! O'Connor thought again. O'Connor thought again.

Colonel Supo clapped his hands, and in a moment, General Mobutu joined in.

This has gone too goddamn far!

"Colonel," O'Connor said. "I feel that I have to raise the question of security."

"This place is secure, Howard," Lowell said. "With General Mobutu here, it's probably the most secure place in the Congo."

I didn't tell this sonofabitch he could call me by my Christian name!

"I was referring to the ladies' security clearances," O'Connor said.

"Oh. Well, Howard, the ladies have Top Secret/Earnest clearances. "

"But they're not government employees, Colonel, they're dependents. "

"Major Lunsford, who granted the clearances, knew that, Howard," Lowell said. "Anything else?"

O'Connor shook his head, no, but then asked, "Lunsford has the authority to grant clearances?"

"Three of us do," Lowell said. "Colonel Felter, Major Lunsford, and myself. It's all in order, Howard."

"Mon general," Lowell asked in French. "Would you like to say anything before we begin?" Lowell asked in French. "Would you like to say anything before we begin?"

Mobutu shook his head, no.

"Mon colonel?"

Supo shook his head, no.

"I understand you would like to have Major Lunsford take this over?"

"I have not the good English," Supo explained.

"Major Lunsford?" Lowell said, motioning Lunsford to his feet and then helping him pull the sheet of oilcloth that covered the map over the top of the map board. Lunsford then stepped in front of the map. He held part of a billiards cue in his hand, to use as a pointer.

"Guevara and the other Cubans," he said in French, "who entered the Congo on 23 April reached Luluabourg . . . here"-he pointed out Luluabourg with the cue-"in the early-morning hours of 7 May, yesterday. A second group of approximately 130 Cubans, under Captain Santiago Terry, debarked from the Cuban vessel Uvera Uvera in Pointe Noire, Congo Brazzaville, at 0600 6 May. Nineteen of them, under Captain Terry, were immediately trucked to the Congo River, near Matadi"-he used the pointer again-"and entered the Congo here, where they were met by Laurent Mitoudidi, who calls himself 'general' and is in Pointe Noire, Congo Brazzaville, at 0600 6 May. Nineteen of them, under Captain Terry, were immediately trucked to the Congo River, near Matadi"-he used the pointer again-"and entered the Congo here, where they were met by Laurent Mitoudidi, who calls himself 'general' and is chef de cabinet chef de cabinet of the revolutionary staff military council. . . ." of the revolutionary staff military council. . . ."

"May I ask, Major," O'Hara asked in not very good French, "the source of your intelligence?"

"Colonel Supo," Lunsford replied.

"We are not completely without intelligence sources," Mobutu said, sarcastically, in French.

"We believe they will reach Luluabourg either today or early tomorrow," Lunsford went on. "Orders have been issued to the roadblocks to let them pass."

"May I ask why?" O'Connor asked.

"One," Lunsford said, "nineteen Cubans aren't going to make a perceptible change in the insurgent forces; Lunsford said, "nineteen Cubans aren't going to make a perceptible change in the insurgent forces; two, two, this way, we'll have all the Cubans in one place; and this way, we'll have all the Cubans in one place; and three, three, they will not be aware that we have them under surveillance. And, maybe, they will not be aware that we have them under surveillance. And, maybe, four: four: there were 130 men and a quantity of arms on the there were 130 men and a quantity of arms on the Uvera. Uvera. Inasmuch as they think their route into the Congo is secure, they will probably use the same route to move both men and materiel in a truck convoy, bypassing the roadblocks when possible, and overrunning the roadblocks they can't bypass. We're working on a plan to have the convoy disappear." Inasmuch as they think their route into the Congo is secure, they will probably use the same route to move both men and materiel in a truck convoy, bypassing the roadblocks when possible, and overrunning the roadblocks they can't bypass. We're working on a plan to have the convoy disappear."

"Disappear?" O'Connor asked.

"We will surveil their progress from the entry point at the Congo River to Luluabourg. They don't have many options so far as a route goes-it's either National Route Five, Sixteen, or Twenty-and at the appropriate point, we will simply make the supply convoy disappear. The Cubans will be moved somewhere-probably Stanleyville-where they can be secretly court-martialed-"

"Court-martialed?" O'Connor interrupted. "Secretly "Secretly court-martialed? " court-martialed? "

"International law permits the court-martial of armed foreign nationals detected in a country during an armed insurrection, with the intent of supporting the insurrection," Lunsford said as if delivering a classroom lecture. "The details of the court-martial-court -martials-do not have to be made public until the insurrection has been suppressed, and law and order restored, when they are required to be furnished to the International Court of Justice in The Hague."

"In other words, you intend to shoot the Cubans?" O'Connor said.

"It's my understanding, Howard," Lowell said, "that with the exception of Guevara, whom the Congolese government, like our own, does not wish to make into a martyr, the Congolese government intends to court-martial any foreign national who comes to the Congo armed, and intending to join or assist the insurgents. What punishment will be meted out is, of course, something the Congolese will determine."

In other words, yes, you're going to shoot the Cubans.

"That's one of the places where you, or at least your airplanes, come in, Howard," Lowell went on. "Colonel Supo may have to move a company-size force in a hurry, and he'll need your C-47s to do that. This plan presumes he'll have access to three C-47s for twenty-four hours when he calls for them. Is there going to be a problem with that?"

O'Connor turned to the CIA station chief, Leopoldville.

"Charley?"

"The C-47s have more on their plate than they can handle, sir," Charley said, "supporting Hoare's mercenary force in their suppression of the insurgents in the Luluabourg area."

"I'm sure that Major Hoare would be delighted to give up his air transport for a twenty-four-hour period if that meant the interdiction of a convoy of men and materiel intended to reinforce the insurgents he's dealing with," Lowell said. "I know I would."

"Make the aircraft available to Major Lunsford," O'Connor ordered.

"We won't know where to hit the convoy until Colonel Supo makes that decision," Lunsford said.

You mean, O'Connor thought, O'Connor thought, until you make that decision., until you make that decision., ". . . which means," Lunsford went on, "that we won't know which of the airfields we'll use until just before we use them. What we would like to do is send Portet to Kamina. He knows just about every field in the area; he's landed at just about every field in the area."

The translation of that is you want your guy at Kamina to make sure Charley's aviation people "cooperate fully" with your request for Charley's C-47s.

"Any problem with that, Howard?" Lowell asked.

"I can't think of any," O'Connor said. "Charley?"

"I was wondering, frankly, why you can't use Portet's-Air Simba's-C-46s for this."

"They're being used, openly, under contract to the Congolese Army, to supply Colonel Supo's forces," Lunsford said. "And, of course, they're supporting, covertly, our covert operations. Once we have the convoy in our hands, they can be used to take the prisoners to Stanleyville, and to distribute the war materiel wherever Colonel Supo wants it, but they can't be used to transport a company of paratroopers; we need the C-47s for that."

"Hoare won't like it," Charley said.

"It doesn't matter what Major Hoare likes or dislikes," General Mobutu said. "He is in the employ of the Congolese Army; he will take orders from the Congolese Army."

"I presume that question is settled?" Lowell asked after a moment, then, when O'Connor nodded, added: "Go on, please, Major Lunsford."

"Colonel Supo has some agents with the insurgents in the Luluabourg area," Lunsford said. "The problem with them is getting their intel out in time for it to be of any use. The way Colonel Supo plans to deal with that is-with our assistance-to establish two outposts in the area around Luluabourg, one of the low land and the other on the plateau, which is five thousand feet above.

"We have reason to believe-Colonel Supo's agents have told us-that Mitoudidi plans to retake Albertville, in Katanga Province, here"-he pointed to Albertville, which was at the midpoint of the shore of Lake Tanganyika-"because (a) it will give him a port for resupply from Tanganyika; (b) restore the credibility the insurgents lost when Major Hoare's men ran him out of it; and (c) because he believes the Cubans will give him the necessary muscle to do so."

"And you think he can take it back from Hoare?" O'Connor asked. "And what about the Congolese Army?"

"Colonel Supo," Lowell said, "who, as I think you know, was recently given responsibility for Katanga Province, believes that he can keep Albertville from being taken again, with the forces he is in the process of moving there. If the Cubans participate in the attack-and Colonel Supo believes Mitoudidi will not attack without without the Cubans-and that attack is a spectacular failure, Colonel Supo believes this will destroy the credibility of the Cubans with the insurgents, and the credibility of 'General' Mitoudidi with the Congolese people. The advantages of that, obviously, would be enormous. the Cubans-and that attack is a spectacular failure, Colonel Supo believes this will destroy the credibility of the Cubans with the insurgents, and the credibility of 'General' Mitoudidi with the Congolese people. The advantages of that, obviously, would be enormous.

"Going off at a sort of tangent," Lowell went on, "Colonel Supo wants the Congolese Army-not Major Hoare's mercenaries-to win quote 'The Second Battle of Albertville' unquote, which would make it clear that the Congolese Army has things under control without any outside assistance, and again, the advantages of that would obviously be enormous."

And if you and your Green Berets aren't "outside assistance, " what the hell are you? O'Connor thought, and then he had a second thought: O'Connor thought, and then he had a second thought: No. I'm wrong. The whole world knows about Michael Hoare and his mercenaries, and nobody knows about these Special Forces people. If they can help Mobutu and Supo to really hand Mitoudidi a licking, this arrogant sonofabitch is right, "the advantages of that, obviously, would be enormous." No. I'm wrong. The whole world knows about Michael Hoare and his mercenaries, and nobody knows about these Special Forces people. If they can help Mobutu and Supo to really hand Mitoudidi a licking, this arrogant sonofabitch is right, "the advantages of that, obviously, would be enormous."

"So the problem is reduced, essentially," Lowell said, "to make sure that Mitoudidi does lose the Second Battle of Albertville, and the way to do that, Colonel Supo believes, I believe, and Major Lunsford believes, is (a) to keep up the interdiction of military materiel, and Cubans, both across Lake Tanganyika and coming across the Congo River from Congo Brazzaville, and (b) to have accurate and timely intel vis-a-vis Mitoudidi's intentions, and that brings us back to Major Lunsford's outposts in the Luluabourg area."

"How are you going to get that intelligence?" Cecilia Taylor asked. It was the first time she had spoken.

"Colonel Supo's agents have the intel, Miss Taylor," Father Lunsford said. "The problem is getting it out before it's yesterday's news."

"How are you going to solve that that problem, Major Lunsford?" she asked. problem, Major Lunsford?" she asked.

"We're making up sort of A Teams, mixed Congolese and American," Lunsford said, and paused. "You know what I'm talking about?"

"I know what an A Team is," she said.

"The teams will consist of two American Special Forces people who speak Swahili," Lunsford went on, "and have experience in Vietnam in running around in the bad guy's backyard without getting caught. There will be at least one, maybe two, ASA radio people. There will be six Congolese paratroopers, and two of those six will be what the Congolese call trackers. The trackers will establish contact with Colonel Supo's agents, bring their intel to the outpost, where it will be relayed to L-19s flying overhead on a regular schedule."

"These ASA people," O'Hara said. "They're technicians. Can they survive in the bush?"

"We ran them through a jackleg course at Fort Bragg," Lunsford said. "They'll be all right. And they all want to go."

"And what if a team is detected?" O'Hara pursued.

"The worst possible scenario?" Lunsford asked rhetorically. "That's when we'll need some more air support. We don't have, and can't get, because that would blow the covert nature of this operation, any extraction choppers-Hueys-so if a team is discovered, we'll first send in the T-28s and the B-26s to suppress fire while we jump reinforcements in from C-47s. If we can do that, jump in a platoon of Colonel Supo's shooters with some heavier weaponry-machine guns, mortars, et cetera-and maintain the air cover over the position, Colonel Supo and I figure we can get a reaction team to the site on the ground before things go down the tube."

"And that brings us . . ." Lowell said, looking at the Leopoldville CIA station chief, ". . . Charley, is it?"

"My name is Willard, Colonel," the CIA station chief said reprovingly. "Charles M. Willard."

"I thought I heard Howard call you 'Charley,' " Lowell said. "Sorry."

"It's Charles, Colonel, Charles M. Willard."

"Well, now that that's been straightened out, Charles," Charles," Lowell said, "as I was saying, Lowell said, "as I was saying, Charles, Charles, that brings us to the vehicles in your motor pool. Which is, as I understand it, at Kamina?" that brings us to the vehicles in your motor pool. Which is, as I understand it, at Kamina?"

"I have some vehicular assets at Kamina, but none that can be diverted from supporting Major Hoare and his forces."

"Tell me something, Howard," Lowell said. "I was under the impression that you and I were sent here by our bosses to make sure that my people and your people, who have had little disagreements in the past, kissed, made up, and were made to understand we're on the same team. Was I wrong?"

"That's essentially correct, of course," O'Connor said.

"Don't you think it's about time you passed that on to Charles, here?"

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Colonel," O'Connor said.

"Yes, you do. And I've had about all I intend to take of Mr. Willard."

"Is that so?" O'Connor flared.

"Yes, it is. I'm right on the edge of suggesting to Colonel Supo that he requisition all of the vehicles in the Kamina motor pool."

And you would do just that, wouldn't you, you sonofabitch?

"What I think, Colonel," O'Connor said, "is that Mr. Willard was simply trying to make you aware that Major Hoare's operations would be severely curtailed if you took the vehicular assets at Kamina-"

"I didn't tell him how many vehicles I need," Lowell snapped.

"So how could he make that judgment?" He paused. "I'm right on the edge of calling this conference off and telling my boss that what he and your boss thought was a pretty good idea failed in the execution."

"How many vehicles are you going to need, Colonel?" Cecilia turned and asked.